How do I find the PublicKeyToken for a particular dll?

Question

I need to recreate a provider in my web.config file that looks something like this:

<membership defaultProvider="AspNetSqlMemProvider">
  <providers>
    <clear/>
    <add connectionStringName="TRAQDBConnectionString" applicationName="TRAQ" minRequiredPasswordLength="7" minRequiredNonalphanumericCharacters="0"
         name="AspNetSqlMemProvider"
         type="System.Web.Security.SqlMembershipProvider, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=B03F5F7F11D50A3A"
    />
  </providers>
</membership>

However, I get a runtime error saying this assembly cannot be loaded, and I think it is because I have the wrong PublicKeyToken. How do I look up the PublicKeyToken for my assembly?

Alternatively, am I going entirely the wrong way with this?

Possible duplicate of [Getting the PublicKeyToken of .Net assemblies](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3045033/getting-the-publickeytoken-of-net-assemblies) — Michael Freidgeim, May 02 '16 at 08:09

danielB · Accepted Answer · 2020-12-10T11:05:50.010

405

Using PowerShell, you can execute this statement:

([system.reflection.assembly]::loadfile("C:\..\Full_Path\..\MyDLL.dll")).FullName

The output will provide the Version, Culture and PublicKeyToken as shown below:

MyDLL, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=669e0ddf0bb1aa2a

edited Dec 10 '20 at 11:05

answered Jun 10 '14 at 08:17

danielB

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Thanks! your method is the only one that worked for me sn -T dllname.dll would only show help text when I ran it – Vdex Sep 24 '14 at 08:52
1

That's perfect! Avoids installing extra tools. – nirav Feb 04 '15 at 10:22
This is a way more easy to do it. – Sergio Flores Oct 23 '15 at 00:17
1

great! this works also when there is no PublicKeyToken available (ie. unsigned assemblies) – MovGP0 Sep 05 '16 at 13:20
This is a more complete answer and covers more use cases. I needed it to refer to the the dll full name in code. Thanks! – SilentNot Feb 08 '17 at 04:59
3

In C# Interactive, you can call: Console.WriteLine(System.Reflection.Assembly.LoadFile(@"c:\some.dll").FullName); – Auri Rahimzadeh Nov 01 '17 at 19:36
Exception calling "LoadFile" with "1" argument(s): "This assembly is built by a runtime newer than the currently loaded runtime and cannot be loaded. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x8013101B)" – Azimuth Mar 14 '18 at 12:57
Works like a charm! – Roelof Briers Sep 28 '18 at 12:24
7

Annoyingly, PowerShell.exe keeps a lock on the dll even after the call completed. I needed to close the PowerShell console before I could build my solution again. – Cee McSharpface Nov 07 '18 at 17:17
I don't know why PowerShell does not do any action when I call this command – VSB Feb 02 '19 at 09:26
My assembly has added to GAC, can I use just name? – Basil Kosovan Jul 03 '19 at 12:37
**Warning**: You have to provide the **full** path. E.g. `([system.reflection.assembly]::loadfile("C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v4.0.30319\Temporary ASP.NET Files\root\cf562e7e\7984a186\assembly\dl3\1e53bd22\00cb376e_eed8cf01\System.Web.Mvc.dll")).FullName` – Ian Boyd Nov 19 '19 at 19:05
Having to load a DLL to view its publickeytoken sounds risky. Is it possible to see the public key token via Nuget.org for example for the .NET ers out there ? – Tore Aurstad Dec 09 '20 at 10:58

score 164 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 10 '09 at 20:27

164

Using sn.exe utility:

sn -T YourAssembly.dll

or loading the assembly in Reflector.

answered Nov 10 '09 at 20:27

Darin Dimitrov

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sn.exe can typically be found at one of the following locations under C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows: C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.0A\Bin, C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.0A\Bin\x64, C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v8.0A\bin\NETFX 4.0 Tools – david.barkhuizen Nov 04 '13 at 10:00
2

Mind it, the key is case-sensitive. -t (lower case) will give the "Failed to convert key to token -- Invalid assembly public key.", which will send you searching in the wrong direction. – access_granted Apr 18 '20 at 05:05

score 42 · Answer 3 · answered Apr 26 '17 at 13:16

42

If you have the DLL added to your project, you can open the csproj file and see the Reference tag.

Example:

<Reference Include="System.Web.Mvc, Version=3.0.0.1, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35, processorArchitecture=MSIL" />

answered Apr 26 '17 at 13:16

Zanon

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Joaquim Rendeiro · Answer 4 · 2009-11-10T20:40:12.137

26

sn -T <assembly> in Visual Studio command line. If an assembly is installed in the global assembly cache, it's easier to go to C:\Windows\assembly and find it in the list of GAC assemblies.

On your specific case, you might be mixing type full name with assembly reference, you might want to take a look at MSDN.

edited Nov 10 '09 at 20:40

answered Nov 10 '09 at 20:26

Joaquim Rendeiro

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score 13 · Answer 5 · edited Mar 18 '14 at 16:06

13

Answer is very simple use the .NET Framework tools sn.exe. So open the Visual Studio 2008 Command Prompt and then point to the dll’s folder you want to get the public key,

Use the following command,

sn –T myDLL.dll

This will give you the public key token. Remember one thing this only works if the assembly has to be strongly signed.

Example

C:\WINNT\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v3.5>sn -T EdmGen.exe

Microsoft (R) .NET Framework Strong Name Utility  Version 3.5.21022.8
Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation.  All rights reserved.

Public key token is b77a5c561934e089

edited Mar 18 '14 at 16:06

WhiteKnight

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answered Jul 02 '13 at 11:16

Prasanna Balajee

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If you have Visual Studio 2013 and you can't find "Developer Command Prompt for VS2013" go have a look here how to fix it: http://stackoverflow.com/a/22702405/187650 – juFo Mar 30 '15 at 10:48
Note that this tool does not come with Windows. – Ian Boyd Nov 19 '19 at 18:58

score 5 · Answer 6 · answered Nov 04 '14 at 04:07

5

I use Windows Explorer, navigate to C:\Windows\assembly , find the one I need. From the Properties you can copy the PublicKeyToken.

This doesn't rely on Visual Studio or any other utilities being installed.

answered Nov 04 '14 at 04:07

Mike Honey

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score 3 · Answer 7 · answered Oct 15 '14 at 15:01

3

Just adding more info, I wasn't able to find sn.exe utility in the mentioned locations, in my case it was in C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.0A\bin

answered Oct 15 '14 at 15:01

Hiram

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If you open up a visual studio command prompt it should be on your path. – Nattrass Oct 20 '14 at 07:01
Check this out: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3045033/getting-the-publickeytoken-of-net-assemblies – ThePatelGuy Oct 13 '16 at 20:13

score 3 · Answer 8 · answered Feb 26 '18 at 11:26

3

Assembly.LoadFile(@"C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\system.data.dll").FullName

Will result in

System.Data, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089

answered Feb 26 '18 at 11:26

CRice

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score 2 · Answer 9 · answered May 17 '22 at 08:14

2

If you want the token for something published on NuGet,

For example, OxyPlot.Wpf :

https://nuget.info/packages/OxyPlot.Wpf/2.1.0

and browse for the dll and its details.

Just change the nuget pkg name and version on the url for any other package.

answered May 17 '22 at 08:14

Niraj Adhikari

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Vinod Srivastav · Answer 10 · 2019-03-13T12:14:43.747

As @CRice said you can use the below method to get a list of dependent assembly with publicKeyToken

public static int DependencyInfo(string args) 
{
    Console.WriteLine(Assembly.LoadFile(args).FullName);
    Console.WriteLine(Assembly.LoadFile(args).GetCustomAttributes(typeof(System.Runtime.Versioning.TargetFrameworkAttribute), false).SingleOrDefault());
    try {
        var assemblies = Assembly.LoadFile(args).GetReferencedAssemblies(); 

        if (assemblies.GetLength(0) > 0)
        {
            foreach (var assembly in assemblies)
            {
                Console.WriteLine(" - " + assembly.FullName + ", ProcessorArchitecture=" + assembly.ProcessorArchitecture);             
            }
            return 0;
        }
    }
    catch(Exception e) {
        Console.WriteLine("An exception occurred: {0}", e.Message);
        return 1;
    } 
    finally{}

    return 1;
}

i generally use it as a LinqPad script you can call it as

DependencyInfo("@c:\MyAssembly.dll"); from the code

score 1 · Answer 11 · answered May 31 '22 at 15:00

put into file dll-assemblyinfo in your $PATH:

#!/bin/sh

f=$(readlink -f "$1")

{
echo "using System.Reflection;"
echo "Assembly.LoadFile(\"$f\");"
} | csharp

chmod +x then

$ dll-assemblyinfo packages/System.Buffers.4.5.1/lib/netstandard2.0/System.Buffers.dll
System.Buffers, Version=4.0.3.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=cc7b13ffcd2ddd51

score 0 · Answer 12 · answered Apr 21 '14 at 07:50

0

You can also check by following method.

Go to Run : type the path of DLL for which you need public key. You will find 2 files : 1. __AssemblyInfo_.ini 2. DLL file

Open this __AssemblyInfo_.ini file in notepad , here you can see Public Key Token.

answered Apr 21 '14 at 07:50

Mohit Verma

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score 0 · Answer 13 · answered May 10 '22 at 17:16

0

For DLL generated by MSVC or others
Using pktextract to get publicKeyToken from '.cer'
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/sbscs/pktextract-exe

See details from other answer: https://stackoverflow.com/a/72190473/12529885

answered May 10 '22 at 17:16

vrqq

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How do I find the PublicKeyToken for a particular dll?

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